hodge podge of thoughts for today

I just wanted to say how excited I am about mewithoutYou's new album "it's all crazy! it's all false! it's all a dream! it's alright" coming May 19. Just when I thought these guys couldn't get any better with "Brother, Sister," this album looks to be even MORE incredible and even MORE amazing! You can check out a couple of songs on their Purevolume site. Ah! They just make me want to dance (I'm obviously listening to them right now).

Anyway...I'm done with 201 today! We had the final this morning, and we're having the grading meeting in a couple of hours. *sigh* Crazy to think that this semester is over. I have survived teaching a college course. Spent 10 hours yesterday finishing grading projects. Eek! Now on to other things. What? Still don't know, but at least I'm not worried about it (for now).

So many things coming to an end:
College
201
Shift
Marriage: Year 1
Year 23 (in a couple of months)
Living in Ames (?)
My Sanity (kidding)

Transition periods. Ah, life.

Jobs & IPTV Kids

Today is beautiful! It's so nice to have the sun shining, the wind at a minimum, and me sitting in Café Diem reading, blogging, and drinking coffee. To life!

I'm trying to be semi-productive lately, so I've been looking for jobs in areas we'd like to move. I found a definite potential, so I started writing a cover letter and editing my resumé. Don't know if it'll work out, but it would be sweet. They're a laptop school (each student gets issued a laptop), so it would pretty much be awesome as I could fulfill my dreams of using technology quite a bit in the classroom. Ack! How sweet would it be? Very. We'll see what happens...

Yesterday we had a couple of presenters from IPTV in class. They asked who watched different programs on IPTV Kids. Who was the only one who raised her hand?

You know it. Me.

I LOVE the IPTV Kids shows! They're awesome! Not to mention educational AND informational. haha. Probably the best is Electric Company. Apparently this was on in the 70s, and they brought it back, but updated it with an urban/hip-hop flair. So sweet. It's on at 4:00 on Fridays. I really encourage you to watch it. Anyway...during lab then I raved about IPTV Kids and told my students they should watch it for ideas for their class. I also told them I know Dan Wardell (this announcer-guy for IPTV Kids), and they thought I was crazy for calling him a "celeb." To me, and to kids all over Iowa, he is.

Don't knock it.

the creative me

Chaz had a lot of work to do tonight (it's teaching portfolio time for him), and I (surprisingly) had nothing. I decided that I was in a create mood, so I made a laptop cover for myself out of scraps of fabric I had in our craft drawer. Now, I've been needing a laptop cover for awhile, and I really just wanted to buy one for myself to save me the anxiety of making one (you know how most of the time you just see the flaws in the things you make?). However, I decided to just make one already instead of slowly letting my laptop get scratched as I tried to find the perfect cover. I was pretty pleased with the final product, but once again, I see the flaws. Ah, well, at least I kept myself occupied for an evening!

Look, mommy! I made a pretty thing!



(not the best image, but you get the general idea)

Good Mornings

I am so thankful for everyone who commented on my last post offering support, encouragement, and advice. Chaz and I are still mulling over possibilities, but I'll be sure to let everyone know what we're doing when we decide (which may be awhile from now...ah, well).

I just wanted to say today that I am so thankful for my husband. I get so focused on myself and my schedule and my life that I forget about everyone and everything else. Last night I was in a funk and took it out on Chaz. This morning, I awoke to a loving note (not spite), wishes for a good day, and a reminder about where my focus should be. I am so thankful to have someone who loves me and reminds me of what love looks like.

To all of you, I wish a good day upon you and a reminder that you are loved by someone (least of all, me).

No work

I waited awhile to post this because I haven't wanted to deal with the implications.

There is no dream teaching job.

Yes, that's right friends, I have no job for next year. Most of you know that I was really hoping for a job in the area because:
A) There was a woman retiring
B) The teachers there wanted me (since I student taught there and had experience and fit in well)
C) They have the best English Department in the world
D) It's my dream job

But the all-important E has trumped all and prevented me from attaining my dream job.
E) Budget cuts in education all across Iowa

Ugh. Are we really going to put a price on education? These budget cuts have cost this English Department 1.2 positions (not to mention positions all over Iowa). This means their curriculum must change because they don't have the amount of teachers to continue implementing their current curriculum (which is great, I must add). Yes, change is good, but I can't help but think this is not a change for the good. They will most likely have to sacrifice some of the great work they do at the school in the English Department. I mean, seriously, I taught juniors and they were learning things I didn't even hear about until my junior year in college. Consider how much more prepared they are for college than students from other schools. And believe me, I can see how much more well-prepared they are just in the college freshman I have this semester.

Anyway, I digress...

Here are the implications of this development: Chaz and I are jobless. We are free. We have no ties. We have no prospects. So what will we do? Here are options:

A) Go overseas—While this is something we've always talked about doing, I can't help but feel that it would be really difficult on our marriage. We've not even been married a year, and we're still learning about each other and about our marriage (as we will be for the rest of our lives, of course). But, I'm afraid if we only had each other and went somewhere without another couple (or at least someone else we know), we'd kill each other. I know it would be so tough if I only had Chaz to be around and didn't have other people to socialize with. I know that we'd meet people and we'd be able to fellowship with friends after we make them, but I would just feel a whole lot better if we went with someone we already knew and had that community already in place. However, this is a good time to do this option seeing as we have no ties currently and it would be wonderful experience.

B) Move—We have a couple of options with this one, however, no jobs. We know that we'd want to move somewhere with people we know (Colorado...Minneapolis...), but we have no job options. There is always the option of subbing, but I would prefer to have a job instead of just subbing for a year. I mean, we could always just sub around the Central Iowa area, after all. Plus, my parents are none to excited about this, but I can't let that stop me, can I? It would be a way to gain a new experience and experience some more of the world (which is what we should do now since we have no ties really....except for the nieces...darn those adorable nieces).

C) Stay and find another job—I love living in Ames, and I know that I'm so comfortable here that it scares me to go elsewhere. However, should I stay in comfort when I have the option of exploration? Probably not, but I'm a bit afraid of leaving my comfort zone. Anywho, we do have the option of staying here and just trying to find other jobs. Chaz could work for a coffee shop....I could find, well, SOMETHING. Or we could always sub.

D) Stay and go to grad school—While it's a little late to apply to grad school, my friend tells me I could probably get in just because I've been around the program for so long (and I'm working for the program right now). I could also have the opportunity of getting an assistantship, meaning I would get paid nearly as much as I would with a teaching job. However, I'm of the feeling that if someone should go to grad school, Chaz should get the opportunity first. Plus, if this is a time where we can just go and explore the world, should I sacrifice that to stay and continue my education (which I'll want to do later, most likely)?

We are leaning no way right now. We have no idea what we're going to do. What are your votes?

Lili & Me

Yay Spring Break!

Spring Break!!

Spring Break!!!
Yeah! *fists in air*

Sooo...here's my Spring Break: cleaning, purging, and grading. Oh yeah....I'm living it up, peeps! I had no idea I had married into a crap-ton of, well, crap. Chaz has been finding love letters from high school. And I thought I was a pack rat. Oh well, it feels nice to get rid of all of this stuff and cut our possessions in half. Chaz and I are also going to have a yard giveaway where people can come take what they need/want and leave what they don't. I think it'll be fun to give it away ourselves instead of just leaving it somewhere for someone to sell.

Well, it's back to organizing I go!

(oh, and I may have stretched the truth a bit. last night we celebrated kim's b-day and st. patty's day, so we are having some fun!)

Unification

It's been a week pretty much without internet, so I blame my lack of blogging on that.

Sunday night we had a Story City Youth Worship Night at The Crate. It was so amazing to see the room packed with tons of high school students at least one more time before we're finished with Shift (for those of you who don't know, Chaz and I are part of a high school coffee house ministry in Story City called Shift...we are the coffee part of coffee house ministry). We've been doing this for two years, and this seems to be the last as most leaders are moving on to other places in life and student attendance has been down. Unlike what you would think, this is a good thing because youth groups in the area (connected to local churches) have been growing. This was a goal of ours in the first place, so it's awesome to see it realized (hence why it's okay that we only have a few students each time).

Anyway, it was really awesome to see The Crate packed once again and students from four youth groups (and their leaders) joined all together. The students also gave the message, so it was great to hear words from them instead of one of us leaders up there talking at them. It was a unifying night, and THAT was the most exciting part.

Idiots!

That's all I'll say to prevent being really mean....IDIOTS!

Unfortunately, I'm far too nice in my emails. Ugh. If I could really articulate what I'm feeling, however, I would quite probably get fired.

On another note....IT'S SUPER NICE OUT!! I biked to campus for the first time this season. Oh man....I'm still sweating profusely.

Chaz's Sleeping

Some of you already know this, but Chaz is an avid sleeper. He could be considered narcoleptic by some. Also, while he is sleeping, he sometimes mumbles about his dreams. If you're lucky, you can actually converse with him and try to understand what he is dreaming. An example:

You're so pretty, you should go to I Can Has Cheezburger and put your face on it.

Yup, that's what my loving husband told me last night as he was drifting off to sleep. I decided to have some fun with this opportunity, and I recorded him talking to me about his dreams. Soon I'll try to post the recordings on here, but for now, I'll just give you a little taste text-style:

K: What about the jack?

C: What? Why are you hitting me?

K: What about the jack?

C: The jack? No, I think they mean a jaguar.

K: Who's jaguar? Is it yours?

C: No! You've seen my car, come on now!

K: What is your car?

C: It's an old, old car. Like 1988 or something.

K: Who's jaguar is it?

C: Justified.

K: It's justified's car? Who is that?

C: He forgot to take his test.

K: Oh, goodnight Chaz.

C: I know, I'm getting there.

That's just a snippet of what went on. What was really funny was I played it back to listen to it last night, and Chaz heard it in his sleep and responded with, "Why do you keep asking me that question? I already told you!"

Turkish

Chaz and I attended Turkish Student Night on campus. My aunt is part of a project that brings 40 Turkish Student Teachers to Iowa to teach in Iowa schools. We've interacted with them a bit (I drove a van for them a few times, and we had a couple students stay at our place for a weekend), so we wanted to go tonight to experience some Turkish culture and say goodbye. As you can imagine, it was sweet. They did some awesome dances, and then we got to eat some amaaaazing food! Yum! My stomach is still super happy from it.

Probably the best part, however, was when Chaz and I walked in (during the awards ceremony that was running late), a bunch of students started yelling, "Mrs. Engelkes!!" They were some students I had last semester. So embarrassing/awesome! Afterwards, they bombarded me and we chatted about what they're doing now, pranks they've pulled on Webb, and, "Are you teaching at Ames next year?" My answer was a mere, "Hopefully!" But we'll see...

It was also sweet to talk to Webb and Schmidt, two teachers I have really missed. Webb informed me that they were reading a book the other day, and he looked down and about seven students had the bookmarks I gave them on my last day and were using them. *sigh* I feel loved! I'm kind of enjoying this "celebrity status," and I may be content to just keep it this way.

But, no, I miss teaching high school too much.

I always wanted a sister....

I just want to give a shout-out today to my new sissy: April. Growing up, I always wanted a sister. Instead, I got two stinky brothers. I love my brothers, this is true, but a sister is different. Well, one of the perks of getting married: I have a new sissy (and a black daddy, but that's another matter)! I love having a sissy, and I know she loves me too because every time I call her she always laughs and says, "You're a nerd." That's sister-talk for, "I love you, you're the best sister ever." Now it's even BETTER having a sister because she has babies which means I have nieces. As you can already tell, I'm obsessed with them. It's amazingly fun because I get the joy of spoiling and loving babies without having to deal with the messes, crying, sleeplessness, etc. etc. WOOHOO!!!

So basically, I love my sister, April, she rocks, and I'm glad that I was made to wait until marriage to get a sister. She's the best.

I want to be genuine.

This is true.

Shows & Showers

Well, I suppose I should relate about my weekend since it was another eventful one.

Friday Chaz and I had a date night. We ate at The Spice (wonderful!) and then attended To Kill A Mockingbird at CY Stephens. My aunt had gotten us tix for Christmas, so we finally got to use them. It was incredibly good. I cried. So did Chaz. Also, we had the most phenomenal server at The Spice (Kara!). She's so good. We were majorly pushed for time (once again, lack of planning), so pretty much we got our food and then had to pack it up in to-go boxes to make it to the show, which we did with no problem.

Saturday was April's shower that I've been planning for a couple of months. The decorations looked SO CUTE! I won't even go into the frustration I had with invitees and group gifts prior to the day, but the shower ended up being super fun. April got a ton of necessities, so she shouldn't have to worry about baby supplies for quite awhile. This is super good as money is tight right now what with Aaliyah in the hospital and Alivia about to be in the hospital. Aaliyah now will maybe get to go home on Wednesday. April will have been in Iowa City for a week and a half. Ugh.

After the shower and dinner with my mom, Chaz and I went to see Rachel in Pal Joey at Wartburg. She's so phenomenal, and it was hilarious to watch her parents squirm with all of the sexual references (and Rachel acting as a harlot). Sooooooo entertaining.

Then yesterday was spent Shifting (Shift meeting) and churching. Church was super good, and I was inspired to take more time for myself for reflection, so that's what I'm devoting this week to. I'm excited. We'll see how it goes, and what my outlook is at the end of the week.

(this blog took a considerable turn from my original posting plan: week after week of crappy reflections. when will it end? aren't you glad?)

LMGTFY

I just found this hilarious (well, to me at least) website given to me by David Pogue's oh-so-wonderful technology blog. It's called "Let me google that for you." It's for those times when people ask you questions they could have easily Googled the answers instead of asking you. Mostly, I'm thinking this is applicable to those frustrating teaching moments. All you do is go to http://letmegooglethatforyou.com, type in their question, and then email the URL that appears to the culprit. Then, they click on the link and a video shows their question being slowly typed into the Google box, and then a message appears saying, "Was that so hard?" The idea alone makes me laugh. Now I just need to find someone to send it to.....quick, someone send me a dumb question!

Sicky

I took a quick trip to Iowa City yesterday to visit Aaliyah in the hospital. Yes, the healthy baby niece is sick (Alivia was to have surgery a week and a half ago, but it was postponed to March 9 because of a blood clot she developed). Aaliyah got pneumonia on Saturday which has turned into something else which is too technical for me to remember. So let's just say she isn't breathing on her own and has been in the hospital since Saturday. This means my sister, April, has also been in the hospital. She literally went for a quick doctor visit to Waterloo, and then upon finding out Aaliyah had to be airlifted to Iowa City, drove straight to the hospital do not stop at go, do not collect $100. She still has DVDs she was about to return in her car.

I decided I needed to visit April to prevent her from going crazy alone in the hospital with an unmoving, unresponsive child. I went just in time, too. She was pacing around the room, sing, blurting out random words....she's clearly on the path to insanity. I kept her company, we watched Aaliyah, and then I took her out to eat. It was a good time. The good news is that Aaliyah started moving yesterday because they took her off of the paralyzing drug. Also, she opened her eyes for the first time since they put her under. April was incredibly happy. I was too. They were also able to turn down her vent, so she's doing more breathing on her own. Hopefully, she'll be able to get completely off of it today or tomorrow.

Pray she'll get better soon, and then pray Livie will recover from surgery quickly, so April doesn't spend all of her life in the hospital and can have two healthy baby girls.

Valentine's Weekend

Chaz took me on a weekend getaway to Minneapolis for Valentine's Day. It was to be a trip of exploration, culture and fun. It started out so, but then it took "a turn for the worse," (cue creepy chords from Oregon Trail). You see, Chaz and I are both non-planners. And when two non-planners get married and try to non-plan something fun, disaster is inevitable.

Our trip began with coffee with Al in Owatonna. Delightful. After the quick detour for good conversation with a wonderful friend, we finished the last leg to Minneapolis. On the way, we had to decide what we would do first. Being non-planners we just blurted out something and called it good. We first went to the Global Market in downtown Minneapolis. I had been there before and had a good time, so I knew Chaz probably would too (and it was something he wanted to see). It's basically an international market indoors. What could go wrong? Nothing. We ate fish tacos and tamales, wandered among the booths, and then called it good.

What next?

We decided to check into our hotel, which was a real snazzy, trendy hotel in downtown Minneapolis. This place was happenin! We probably should've just stayed in the hotel, but we were determined to ruin the day somehow. Chaz then tells me he really wants to go to the Walker Art Museum. This is at 4:06. The museum closes at 5 (this is where planning would have helped). We decidee to go anyway and at least check out the sculpture garden. We get lost along the way and ended up at Walker at 5. Being -10 degrees, we decide to walk around anyway and take some pictures. In increasingly bad moods, we returned to the car after a quick walkthrough for the next disappointment.

This came in the form of driving around downtown Minneapolis trying to find someplace to walk around/shop. No luck. It was far too cold to walk around, and Chaz was stressed out from driving, so we stayed in the car. Then, we decided to go for dinner, and we desperately needed someplace good to get us out of the foul moods. We took a recommendation from a friend and drove to St. Paul for dinner. When we got to the area, there was absolutely no parking and masses of people as a result of a hockey game. Nice. Needed that. We ended up paying $10 to park 7 blocks away from the restaurant and cried as we walked in the cold. Once at the restaurant, we realized it was not the romantic dinner we were looking for. We waited in line with a million other people, got some "fast Italian food" cafeteria-style (slapped on a plastic plate) and sat at a table surrounded by rambunctious college students. Happy Valentine's Day! The food was mediocre and probably tasted worse than it actually was (as that place is highly acclaimed) due to our mood.

Upon returning to the car after a brisk walk, we drove back to our hotel and collapsed on the bad extremely tired after a depressing evening. Things could still turn up, however. We were invited to a bluegrass show at a local bar by my dear friend Cassie. While tempted to stay and go to sleep, we decided to try to make up for the rest of the day by going. We were not disappointed. I didn't know how it could, but that show made up for the rest of the day. We danced and laughed to amazing bluegrass music by Trampled by Turtles and Two Many Banjos. You have to have real talent to play that kind of music, unlike in other genres. It was incredible! When one of the fathers of a musician joined them on stage to play harmonica, he brought down the place! It was hott! Everyone was dancing because you can't help it to that music!

We ended the trip the next day with a venture to IKEA. How could we go wrong there? Thank you, Chaz, for a wonderful trip despite the downfalls. Thank you Cassie and bluegrass music for lifting our spirits. Thank you Minneapolis for the joy and the pitfalls. This trip was definitely educational. While we may or may not have learned the lesson about planning, we sure learned a lot about each other and our marriage.

At a bluegrass show...

Dear Pink Hair Girl,

Although I like the bubblegum tint to your hair, please refrain from thrusting your hair-sprayed, sticky mess in my face. I appreciate your enthusiasm for the bluegrass music, and we're all joining you in dancing, but I would appreciate your awareness of those around you. Also, no, I do not want your smelly-ass drink all over my clothes. I would prefer to leave this place not smelling like vodka cranberry. So if you would kindly watch your drink while you jerk all over the place to be sure it doesn't spill, I would appreciate it. And so would those around you.

Your friend,
Kate

Another week, another set of papers, another step on the road to bitterness

I began this semester with high hopes and excitement (and a bit of nervousness) about teaching two of my loves: technology and education. I remember posting about how it was so great to be surrounded, once again, by people who were passionate about teaching and excited about the potential of the future.

I have been horribly, horribly let down. I understand that things could change; that this may not be all the potential I see, but I now sympathize with TAs and professors everywhere who must seem as if the future of this country is going down the tubes based on the papers written by their students. I also wonder about where their teachers have failed them. And they have decided they want to teach now?

As an English major, I am horrified by the lack of correctness, shall we say? "All of the grammers and speling was okay on this website." Really? And how would you be a good judge of this? "I enjoyed reading there article. There a really good writer." Hmm...yes, I see.

As a future parent and teacher, I am horrified by the potentially disastrous consequences this could have on my legacy.

I worry of impending bitterness. Maybe it's already onset. Yikes.

Why Teach Tech?

Many of you may not really care much about this, but it's my passion. As a TA, I'm once again surrounded by people passionate about technology and teaching, which is my favorite combination. I hope to renew my sense of why it's important to use technology to teach, and also gain ideas for my future classroom. So far, it's been good. I found a video we watched in lecture especially compelling. Check it out at the link below.


A Vision of K-12 Students Today

If this is an ever-changing world, why do we still teach the way we did 100 years ago?